


East of Eden

by ohwhatevers



Series: eightfitzweek2017 [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures - Various Authors
Genre: M/M, Presumed Dead, Role Reversal, Sharing Clothes, Surprise Kissing, bad allusions, eightfitzweek2017, evil venture capitalists, space colonies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-01 06:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11480703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohwhatevers/pseuds/ohwhatevers
Summary: "The usual uneasy peace between two recently warring parties, the usual backhand dealings behind the scenes, even the usual crooked civil servant, and, of course, the usual McGuffin threatening to unbalance relations, or worse, stabilise them."It's a situation they've been in countless times before so the Doctor suggests they play different roles this time around. Unfortunately they don't realise that others are looking to exploit the fragile situation in the East Eden colony.





	East of Eden

It had all been fun and games until suddenly it wasn’t. This particular adventure had started ordinarily enough; the usual uneasy peace between two recently warring parties, the usual backhand dealings behind the scenes, even the usual crooked civil servant, and, of course, the usual McGuffin threatening to unbalance relations, or worse, stabilise them.

In this instance, it was an independent agricultural colony, thousands of generations old, where something akin to the human Reformation of the Sixteenth Century was going on. They had had their Thirty Years War, decimating both the militia and civilians but this exhausted truce was endangered by the recent recovery of the original colonising vessel’s black box – the contents of which formed the basis of the theological division.

Fitz should have known the Doctor was planning mischief when they landed. He had promised – and delivered – Anji a trip to a planet where apparently porcelain baths grew out of the ground and its indigenous population had spent thousands of years philosophising on the perfect bathing experience. After Anji had shut the TARDIS doors behind her with a pleased “Oh”, the Doctor spun around the console, punching buttons and twisting dials, before whirling around to face Fitz. Fitz should have refused to play but the way the Doctor was grinning at him reminded him painfully of how he used to be before their separation and the Doctor’s amnesia.

If the Doctor always looked at Fitz like that, wild like some romantic adventurer but seeming to only have eyes for him, offering to share this adventure to him and only him – Fitz thought he could never refuse him anything.

When he saw the Doctor wearing _his_ jacket and _his_ shirt, Fitz ignored the way his heart flipflopped in his chest. The way the Doctor’s soft linen shirt felt against his skin certainly did not help matters either. These feelings had been occurring more and more often and Fitz dealt with them in his usual way. He ignored them completely.

With little success.

The Doctor had chosen this particular time and place to play their game because the situation seemed so straightforward – a set piece – almost a cliched tableaux in the spacetime continuum. He hadn’t banked on there being more than one group working to destabilise relations – especially not heavily armed venture capitalists.

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Fitz could do a reasonable impression of the Doctor, but as usual he fell into the midst of the action by accident - being held at blaster-point twice by people convinced you were working for the opposing faction wasn’t _fun_.  The Doctor actually grasped the role of companion quite well by ignoring what Fitz said and finding out stuff of importance on his own initiative.

They weren’t quick enough. The emergency meeting of East Eden colony’s Diet to discuss the discovery of the Black Box (the need for capital letters was evident) peacefully with representatives of the two religious confessions, the Governor, and research professors from the fledgling university was going ahead before Fitz and Doctor had any evidence for the Governor to persuade him that he should be concerned about foreign intervention. This was the event where everything would come to a head.

The Doctor and Fitz ran from the quarters of the crooked aide to the low building of the Diet. Three small transporters were hovering above, engines whining, and little black ants of soldiers were descending cables. Alarms bells rang out and the remnants of the militia were amassing in the square before the Diet. Their numbers looked pathetically small compared to the streams of soldiers coming from the transporters.

Harvey Jax had been feeding information to a business conglomerate wanting East Eden’s strong agricultural economy. He ferreted out the weaknesses of the militia, the gossip and infighting of both factions, all while ingratiating himself with the young governor. Fitz had only found that out after he had been caught nosing about the Diet trying to find missing communicator logs. Jax had liked to brag while he beat Fitz. Although this had also provided a distraction for the Doctor to break into Jax’s quarters and find those missing logs, Fitz appreciated not having his soft insides kicked black and blue.

The Doctor burst up the steps and through the Diet doors and took off towards the debate chamber, Fitz and the militia close behind. They had to get to the governor: he may have been an idealist but he had proven himself as a military leader. Fitz swerved into the debate chamber into the Doctor’s back – just in time to see Jax shoot the governor point blank in the head.

The blood sprayed across the colony seal on the wall behind. The thick black brains and shards of skull clung in chunks to the carvings. It ran down slowly and began to drip steadily onto the floor. The governor dropped like a broken marionette. The Black Box rolled out of his hands.

The chamber erupted in chaos. People started running in panic for the exit but before they could get there the ceiling crashed in suddenly. The first of invading soldiers had arrived and began shooting. A grenade was thrown and the room filled with thick grey smoke. The roof began crumbling, pieces of masonry falling all around them – _must be an airstrike_ , Fitz thought before striking out to find the Doctor in the confusion – until a falling strut knocked him over and he fell down unconscious.

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Fitz came around quickly. Travelling with the Doctor meant you got conditioned to this sort of thing, even if it never got any less painful.

The smoke had mostly cleared, only remnants clung to the debris like mist, and the room was empty of anyone obviously alive. Fitz sat up, pushing away the wood and plaster that had covered him. He recognised the body lying near him and looked away from the blank face of the pretty intern he had spoken to at the university. She had been shot multiple times and it had mangled her body into a caricature of a person, as twisted and angular as a dead insect. Fitz gagged but reached out and shut her eyes. He dragged himself up. There was no sign of the Doctor.

Fitz could hear occasional shots and shouting from outside. The governor’s body lay in front of the rising sun and crossed wheat sheaves, spread-eagled and gazing upwards like an ecstatic martyr; it wasn’t the smoke that made Fitz’s eyes water as he tore them away and ran from the room.

The corridor outside was riddled with bullet holes and the sprinklers clearly been set off by the smoke of gunfire. Fitz ran through the soft rain to a huddle of vague shapes near where the corridor opened into the foyer.

It was the Doctor and Jax. Neither were moving. Jax’s gun lay to one side; there was blood on the handle and blood all across the Doctor’s face. Fitz’s heart stopped. He skidded forward, dropped to his knees and began frantically trying to undo the top buttons of the Doctor’s shirt. His fingers shook too much and he gave up. He pulled the Doctor up so his head cradled in his lap and gently carded through the Doctor’s hair. The blood came from a gash on his scalp, it was shallow but bleeding profusely as head wounds were wont. Fitz ducked down to listen for breath.

Nothing.

“Oh come on, come on, come _on!_ ” Fitz cried, “ _Please…”_

 He brushed the matted hair from the Doctor’s forehead and tried ineffectually to wipe his face clean; Fitz didn’t feel how slick his fingers were becoming. His eyes welled with tears and he scrubbed them away, painting hot red stripes across his face. The sounds from outside seemed to fade, the alarm had long ago become white noise, and Fitz could hear little apart from wild throbbing of his heart in his ears. Someone was wailing – it took a moment for Fitz to realise it was him.

Fitz was tired. In the past day alone he had been beaten and held at blaster-point, knocked unconscious by a falling _ceiling,_ and his lungs still hurt the phosphorus smoke. Not only that, but he had spent the last couple of days slowly getting more and more out of his depth as the situation unravelled. He was tired. The Doctor wouldn’t wake up: Fitz had nothing.

“Wake up, Doctor, I can’t… _can’t. Wake up!_ ” He rocked back and forth, pulling the limp body closer. He would move in a moment, see if he could get them to the TARDIS safely – but he was allowed a bloody good cry first.

“Fitz? What’s going on?”

Fitz jumped and looked down into the Doctor’s wide open blue eyes. He looked unfocussed and confused and was deathly pale under the war paint of blood. But was he breathing and alive. _Alive._ Fitz’s stomach swooped, his emotions reversing from despair to overpowering relief so fast he felt sick. He didn’t think – just moved – and kissed the Doctor soundly on the mouth. When he pulled back, he was grinning like a loon and the Doctor’s hand was a comforting anchor cupping the back of his head. The Doctor frowned but kept stroking the skin behind Fitz’s ear with his thumb.

“Still taking my role then?” he said with a wry smile. Fitz laughed and hugged him closer.

“No, I’m just glad, glad that…you’re,” He swallowed, he couldn’t quite get himself to voice what he had feared. Using Fitz as crutch, the Doctor hauled himself up, and Fitz remembered about Jax. He asked the Doctor what happened.

“He’s dead,” was all the Doctor would say, and Fitz looked away from the vacant look that passed over the Doctor’s face.

“Did you see the Black Box?” the Doctor asked, turning back towards the debate chamber, unsubtly turning the conversation away from Jax.

“No, but I think it’s still by the governor,” Fitz replied, following close behind. They ran into the chamber, Fitz feeling uneasy about the sense of déjà vu it gave him. But the Doctor knew what he was doing and Fitz was more than happy to follow him again.

The chamber was full of light. Harsh blue light threw everything into stark contrast like a sustained flash of lightning. It emanated from a figure standing proud before the seal. It framed them like a halo. They held the Black Box in front of their chest and streams of electricity ran from it up their arms and into their heart. They opened their eyes as the Doctor and Fitz stopped dead, and even from several feet away, the deep blue-black of their eyes shone out. A mechanical whine grew steadily louder until the ground throbbed with it as the dead body of the governor began walking towards the Doctor and Fitz.

“Fitz,” the Doctor grabbed his hand, never taking his eyes off the figure, “I think we’ve found a way to sort this out.” Fitz couldn’t see how a glowing reanimated corpse would simplify the situation but he said nothing.

He squeezed the Doctor’s hand. They would get through this.

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbeta-read and i'm not certain if i've done archive warnings and the rating right, so any mistakes and bad writing are mine, but i would love any criticism and advice to help me improve  
> title (and the colony's name) from East of Eden by John Steinbeck.  
> i know i wrote Anji out in a really bad way but she's on a planet of baths because in so many fics all she seems to do is take baths. also i don't know how to write her well


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